167 
NOAA 
National Marine 
Fisheries Service 
Abstract— Fine-scale movements of 
and use of habitat space by indi- 
vidual marine fishes can structure 
broader population dynamics, yet 
little is known about these traits. 
This lack of key information applies 
to the economically and ecologically 
important sciaenid weakfish ( Cy - 
noscion regalis), which is seasonally 
distributed in estuaries and coastal 
habitats along the Middle Atlantic 
Bight, where it feeds and spawns. 
We examined movements of adult 
weakfish in a southern New Jersey 
estuary using acoustic telemetry at 
both seasonal (n = 29 fish) and diel 
(ra= 9 fish) scales. From June through 
November 2008, a majority of tagged 
and redetected weakfish (12 of 20; 
60%) established areas of localized 
residency. Several fish made excur- 
sions of varying distances (1.0-5. 9 
km) from these regions before re- 
turning after 1-2 weeks. At the diel 
scale, most weakfish (7 of 9; 78%) 
resided as a local aggregation dur- 
ing the day and made nighttime ex- 
cursions beginning around sundown 
(1930 hours). No fish were detected 
within 0.5 km of their area of local- 
ized daytime residency after 2230 
hours. These findings are new evi- 
dence of the affinity of adult weak- 
fish within specific localities across 
ecologically relevant timescales and 
offer further insight into the impor- 
tance of estuaries in the life history 
of weakfish. 
Manuscript submitted 19 September 2013. 
Manuscript accepted 5 February 2015. 
Fish. Bull. 113:167-179 (2015). 
doi: 10.7755/FB.113.2.5 
The views and opinions expressed or 
implied in this article are those of the 
author (or authors) and do not necessarily 
reflect the position of the National 
Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. 
Fishery Bulletin 
r* established 1881 •<* 
Spencer F. Baird 
First U.S. Commissioner 
of Fisheries and founder 
of Fishery Bulletin 
Patterns of intra-estuarine movement of adult 
weakfish iCynoscion regalis): evidence of site 
affinity at seasonal and diel scales 
Jason T. Turnure 
Kenneth W. Able (contact author) 
Thomas M. Grothues 
Email address for contact author: able@marine.rutgers.edu 
Marine Field Station 
Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences 
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey 
800 do 132 Great Bay Boulevard 
Tuckerton, New Jersey 08087-2004 
Population connectivity in fishes 
is directed by the movements and 
space-use patterns of individuals in 
populations. We must first under- 
stand these individual behaviors to 
fully understand the role of popula- 
tion connectivity and how it informs 
tools used to maintain sustainable 
fisheries (Mittelbach et ah, 2014). 
Fine-scale movements and related 
patterns of site affinity and homing 
have been examined extensively in 
terrestrial (Bright and Morris, 1991; 
Costello, 2010) and avian (Hoppes, 
1987) species, and improvements in 
our ability to track marine animals 
with greater resolution, in both time 
and space, have shed light on similar 
behaviors (March et ah, 2010). Stud- 
ies of fine-scale movements of fishes 
have elucidated their ability to home 
back to relatively small geographic 
areas (Mitamura et ah, 2009), keep 
restricted home ranges (McGrath 
and Austin, 2009), and maintain site 
affinity at timescales that range from 
daily (Humston et al., 2005) to yearly 
(Ng et al., 2007). Effects of scale, al- 
though important for examining eco- 
logical processes, are neglected too 
frequently during evaluation of ani- 
mal movements (Levin, 1992; Schick 
et ah, 2008). Therefore, obtaining ap- 
propriately scaled data on the move- 
ments of exploited marine fishes is 
an increasingly warranted goal (Pitt- 
man and McAlpine, 2003). 
Estuarine movements of adult 
weakfish ( Cynoscion regalis) are 
poorly understood despite their rela- 
tive importance within the estuarine 
food web, their economic contribution 
to both recreational and commercial 
fisheries (Able and Fahay, 1998), and 
most recent coast-wide population 
decline (NEFSC 1 ). Weakfish range 
from the Gulf of Maine during some 
years (Collette and Klein-MacPhee, 
2002) to the southwest Atlantic coast 
where they maintain year-round resi- 
dency. They are seasonal residents in 
the northern portion of their range 
within the Middle Atlantic Bight be- 
tween New York and Virginia, where 
migrations move south and offshore 
in the fall and north and inshore in 
the spring (Shepherd and Grimes, 
1 NEFSC (Northeast Fisheries Science 
Center). 2009. Weakfish assessment 
summary for 2009. In 48th Northeast 
Regional Stock Assessment Workshop 
(48th SAW) assessment summary re- 
port, Northeast Fish. Sci. Cent. Ref. Doc. 
09-10, p. 41-46, [Available from http:// 
www.nefsc.noaa.gov/publications/crd/ 
crd0910/crd0910.pdf.] 
